Abstract

This paper examines third sector social housing in early post-apartheid South Africa, hence offering important new insights into how institutions in emerging economies shape the implementation and impacts of this approach. Based on qualitative research methods, the paper finds that under conditions of weak formal governance, nascent industry capacity and disaffected communities, third sector social housing resulted in serious project failures and squandered public resources. The study employs an institutional lens to understand how formal and informal institutions shaped the implementation of projects and how key stakeholders acted upon conflicting incentives. It discusses five major factors – inadequate formal policy and regulatory framework, limited government capability and support, limited sector capacity, private finance reluctance and adverse informal arrangements – that caused serious difficulties both at the program and project level. The paper argues that developing robust third sector social housing comes with substantial financial, administrative and political responsibilities for governments, and its success depends on the alignment between the formal policy framework and informal institutions.

摘要

本文研究了南非后种族隔离初期的第三部门社会住房，从而为新兴经济体的机构如何影响这一方法的实施和影响提供了重要的新见解。基于定性研究方法，本文发现，在正式治理薄弱、产业能力尚薄、社区不满的情况下，第三部门保障性住房导致了严重的项目失败和公共资源的浪费。该研究采用制度视角来了解正式和非正式制度如何影响项目的实施以及主要利益相关者如何根据相互冲突的激励措施采取行动。它讨论了五个主要因素——正式政策和监管框架不充分、政府能力和支持有限、部门能力有限、私人融资的不情愿和不利的非正式安排——这在计划和项目层面造成了严重困难。该文件认为，发展强有力的第三部门社会住房需要政府承担大量的财政、行政和政治责任，其成功取决于正式政策框架和非正式机构之间的协调。